Daily pages - July 29, 2021

One of the things I think I need to move forward on is making my digital garden live. That means putting my book online in a free form. I feel so strongly about this that it seems like a no-brainer, but I’m hesitant because it still seems really risky and stupid to put my work online because someone could steal it. The thing is, I think that’s so unlikely that it’s not worth worrying about. Plus it’s in line with the content of the book which encourages open projects. And it makes it possible for me to get feedback and connect to people who are thinking along the same lines as me.

What is the case for why I feel it’s so important? One bit of that is a relatively old (2011) article that talks about how to publish a book that has a Creative Commons license. In point number 7, they suggest that you write the book on a wiki, and they indicate that “the wiki, or some other electronic version, is a different work…” It’s not worded very well, but the idea is that it is probably easier to preemptively publish it online than it will be to get permission to do that after it’s published under a full copyright.

Another thought I have is related to Fuller’s advice. He took out patents for most of his inventions with the idea that it would force anyone interested in his artifacts to work with him. By the end of his life, he suggested that people shouldn’t bother. He said that if your work is truly unique to you, so one will understand it the way you do and if someone wants to use the idea, they will still have to come to you, as the only person who really understands it. I feel a bit like that with my book. I’m not sure anyone could really finish it in the same way I could, so in that sense, it’s protected.

Also, the Creative Commons license requires that I be attributed, so they can’t pretend it’s someone else’s work. There’s a long argument online about why you shouldn’t use the license that prohibits commercial uses. Initially, I thought that was a good guard against someone publishing my work without my permission, but apparently, there are good reasons to keep it open to commercial use. One suggestion, if you feel like you have to use the restriction, is to designate a date or condition upon which it is no longer restricted. For example, I may be able to say “no commercial use until the book is published by me in e-book and paper versions.”

I don’t know. I may need to hire a lawyer and see if they can help me on this. I’m confused and I’m not really sure where the industry is on the subject. At this point, it might be a common practice, but I doubt it.